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Does your company want to do video conferencing? Now it can with AOLÕs new services. On the 10th of June, AOL announced that it will use its AIM software to allow telephone conferences and web conferences to people on their buddy list.
No PINs or conference numbers to remember. Full details direct from AOL are at www.aimatwork.com. A news story appears in the Washington Post
Meanwhile, ZDNET says that Texas Instruments has developed a new DSL technology to make it easier for phone companies to boost their bandwidth. Then they will be able to offer new services like voice and video over broadband connections.
Uni-DSL, or UDSL, which raises the bandwidth of digital subscriber line technology to point were it can to deliver high-definition television as well as voice and data. Read more...
A standards body has pushed a next-generation DVD format forward by endorsing Microsoft's video technology along the way. This is reminiscent of the adoption of QuickTime as a standard for MP4 except there appear to be more options.
They voted to require that makers of HD-DVD video playback devices build in three video codecs, including the VC-9 technology used in Microsoft's Windows Media Video 9. Read more...
I got another of those "urban legends" type e-mails this week. The sender was very serious in letting us know about all the ways Moses and the 10 Commandments are represented on government buildings in Washington D.C. With the photos along, it looked real. I normally go and debunk these my self using various web sites. But another member of the mailing list did that with the above mentioned web site. So check it out before you pass on e-mail that is wrong. truthorfiction.com
adnX software has announced an update to its KidsBrowser software to version 1.5.5. It is designed specifically for children. While it is powered by SafariÕs engine it allows parents to preset authorized web pages that can be seen with KidsBrowser. It runs in full screen mode so only the browser is available when it is running. It does require Mac OS X 10.3 ... Read more...
Priced at $30 and requires Mac OS X 10.1 or later. Classic version still available for Mac OS 8.6 or higher. Some say this version rivals even the most popular image editing programs available. Need we say more? Get the full story
The free User Group passes are no longer being issued by IDG, but Peachpit Press is offering free admission through the end of the month. Send an e-mail to macworld@peachpit.com with your name and postal address. Thank you Peachpit. Thank you Peachpit.
Apple Computer and BMW are developing a device to allow you to listen to your iPod on their BMW radios. Apparently, it is a plug device, not an FM broadcasting device. But surely it is more than just an audio port. Otherwise it is and will be done by others. Story was from San Jose Mercury News
The same column mentioned that Adobe reported on its first quarter earnings. Their net income rose to $109.4 million. This with sales of $410.1 million. I guess the CS Suite has done well. NPR said that they had sold a lot of Acrobat as well. Good for them. Wish them well and looking forward to seeing their presentation at MacWorld Expo.
GarageBand is the tool many amateur musicians have been waiting for their whole lives. It is a recording studio inside your Mac, complete with session musicians, music tracks and clips. Now, this new book by Jay Shaffer and Gary Rosenzweig helps you learn GarageBand's dizzying array of features and capabilities to begin producing some pretty astounding tunes right away.
The folks at "TidBits" have rolled out their latest eBook in the "Take Control" series: Take Control of What's New in Entourage 2004! If you use Entourage 2004 (or are considering upgrading), you need this ebook to make the most of Entourage's new and enhanced features. Learn how to ban spam from your In box, the ins and outs of Three Column View, how you can send email from within Microsoft Word, and how Entourage can protect your communications from snoopers.
Includes: In-depth coverage of how to use the new Database Utility to recover from corruption and other problems -- and special savings $5 off coupon for SpamSieve! PDF format, 64 pages Price: $5
Contact UGN for your 10% MUG discount! See: tidbits.com/takecontrol/
ACTCFUG serves the Queanbeyan, NSW, and entire surrounding region in Australia! Officer Peter Tilbrook helps make things happen at meetings, in the newsletter and various other group programs. They meet at the Canberra RSL Club and invite like-minded developers (of all levels) to share your experiences with this platform. The community group, open to anyone and it's FREE, no dues required. Check out their most excellent news list ... or visit them at actcfug.com
Apple has opened iTunes Music Stores in the UK, France and Germany giving music fans there the same large online catalogue, a la carte pricing, free previews, one-click purchasing and downloading, and groundbreaking personal use rights that have made iTunes the number one online music service in the world. Prices are 0.99 euro and 0.79 pounds per song. Click for the country of your choice... United Kingdom... France and Germany ... or go to: apple.com/itunes/
Several weeks ago we reported on a suspicious new spam/phishing scheme discovered in AACUG's "Safe Netting" project. Research is continuing on this suspected scam, now dubbed the "About You" scheme, and sufficient data has been gathered to suggest that computer users should be wary of this new threat.
AACUG volunteer spam trackers chased a number of these posts, all of which claim: "Someone who knows you is attempting to share experiences and opinions about you via our website." The email is very compelling, encouraging you to go to the site to discover who has inquired there about you. Of course when arriving, you must sign in before you can read the info. Of the sites tested, most of the links, including the "about" and "privacy" links produce data errors, server not found errors or simply do nothing at all.
The variations tested include passages like or similar to this:
"The purpose of this email is to inform you that a posting has been made about you at our website. This is email is not commercial in nature."
Of course, then they attempt to get you to add them to your whitelist, or skirt around spam filters:
"If this email message was delivered to your spam or bulk email folder please notify your ISP or spam filtering company regarding this mistake on their part."
All of the spams tested came to different seeded email addresses with the exact same message, and the email address embedded in the return link. Some of the receiving addresses do not have human counterparts, indicating dictionary spamming techniques in use. Additionally, according to SpamCop.net, and the UXN Spam Tracker, the messages employ link obfuscation, a typical spam technique to mask human-readable domains and confuse or divert spam filters.
Some of the 'hosting' domains are: find-information.biz, APlusHosting.com and ShareExperience.us, although we cannot confirm if these IP owners are directly involved in the offending web site.
We'll keep you posted.
As filtering becomes more 'intelligent' and adaptive, the criminal element is developing more convincing ways of getting you to opt in, or accept their messages. For a detailed white paper on how Spammers are using increasingly sophisticated means to get their messages past adaptive spam filters, download this PDF file from Sophos.com
Chasing our June 9th InfoManager story "iPod division at Apple could lead to other devices" InfoManager reader and Safe Netting maven Joe Showker writes:
[Quote] Get ready for a digital photo storeage interface and/or a video storage interface!
I believe you are also going to see the same "preoccupation" with photos that is driving the cell phone market to include cameras on their devices. The sales guy told me that cameras are now as "basic" in cel phones as voicemail was 5 years ago.
What about an ipod with a tiny camera built in! Add a 60gig drive, give it a 2 or 3 megapixel size and you've got a hit! Apple should look at a device to support the iLife suite. An MP3/photo/video device with small color screen.
My tungsten T3 can do ALL that right now!!! at 399.00 -- but only has up to a 512K flash memory card. At 700+mg of storage -- non-compressed video is out. I use the tungsten's extended screen to show video clips and teaching aids to my track team.
At a recent business seminar, part of my presentation was produced by a friend using iMovie. He dragged and dropped the work folder onto his iPod to transport to our meeting! Rather than exporting it, he just copied the work folder. As a teacher and a business man, this device would be a HUGE tool for me. Run your multimedia from: let's call it an "iPodAV" or "iLifepod"
Joe Showker
Internet Business Owner, Teacher, Coach.
[END QUOTE]
Yes, very cool idea, little brother. But let's take it one step further. Why storage? Why not a WiFi link to your personal collection back at your home workstation? Watch movies, slideshows, listen to music, and on and on. The term "Ubiquitous Computing" was coined by the late Mark Weiser of Xerox Parc (Palo Alto Research Center) in the '80s as the third incarnation of computing. So your refrigerator would scan for "milk" and finding none, when you got in your car to come home from work, the car would say "don't forget to pick up milk." Or, you're on your way into the local cinema to see the latest Vin Diesel movie and as you momentarily pass through the turnstile a millisecond transaction takes place with your cell phone that debits the price of the movie from your account. Of course you walk on in, cooly ignoring the whole process.
Read this month's MIT Technology Review and you'll see what I'm talking about.
NTT DoCoMo, the biggest cell-phone company in Japan (41 million subscribers) has a plan being launched this summer called iMode service -- which will transform the cell phone into a "remote control" for your life. According to MIT's article, by Charles Mann, iMode phones will send/receive voice, text, fax and email in addition to snagging games, news and stocks from any of 78,000 iMode-enabled web sites. No big deal, right? How about asking it a question, and it instantly shows the answer. Any question. Or, gives you a selection of "best" guesses for the answer. How about if it also captures music from any number of sources via WiFi, takes, sends and receives video and photographs, reads bar codes and postal codes, pays for groceries and vending machine purchases, pays tolls, train and subway tickets, unlocks your car door and your house door when you get home, operates appliances, and a host of other tasks?
This is not fantasy. It's already in place in Japan. We are witnessing the debut of low-rent "Ubiquitous Computing" ... as once upon a time only visionary dreamers could imagine.
Of course the MIT-TJ is subscription only, but they do have an 'electronic' trial, and I believe this story will show up at some point next month. We'll keep you posted. Check it out now at: www.technologyreview.com/digital/
Fred has added a second follow-up article on improving your presentation skills for meetings as well as conference appearances. It's in the UG officers' Help section
One machine can do the work of 50 ordinary men.
No machine can do the work of one extraordinary man."
- Elbert Hubbard
"Only those who risk going too far
can possibly find out how far they can go."
T.S. Elliot
Have a great week...
* MIT Technology Review is probably one of the best-spent $29 for anyone wishing to learn about and see new technologies as much as a year before they appear in main-stream media. It's intelligently written -- and beautifully illustrated and printed! Both of us are avid readers! Subscribe at: www.TechnologyReview.com
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